DAVIDSON, N.C. – Tied for the lead after day one at the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division Regional Championship are the Virginia Tech team of Charlie Machek and Scott Wiley and the Fairmont State University team of Wil Dieffenbauch and Brent Dodrill. The three day tournament is being held at Lake Norman and both teams caught six bass weighing 9 pounds, 7 ounces on Saturday.
“The goal was 10 pounds and we’re right there, said Machek, a senior in Building Construction at Virginia Tech. “I think we have found our money spot. We are hoping that the inconspicuous spot will hold up for the entire tournament.”
“The key to our pattern is to conserve fish, added Wiley, a senior in Landscape Architecture. “We are fishing in 6-8 feet of water where there really shouldn’t be any fish. So far the spot has been productive and we are keeping our fingers crossed.”
Machek and Wiley started the Virginia Tech Bass Fishing Club four years ago which now has 20 members. The Hokie’s are represented by three teams at the Northern Regional and all teams have finished in the top five after day one of competition.
Fishing together for only the second time are Wil Dieffenbauch and Brent Dodrill of Fairmont State University; they think they make a “pretty good team”. In their opening debut at the Potomac River in June the team placed first to qualify for the Northern Regional where they are currently tied for first.
“We covered a lot water today,” said Dieffenbauch a sophomore in Civil Engineering. “We struggled all day trying to land keepers. We mostly fished around docks in both deep and shallow water.”
“We fought for every fish, said Dodrill a sophomore in Occupational Safety. We fished hard all day and actually caught our last fish with only 10 minutes left before we had to come in.”
Rounding out the top five teams are Virginia Tech – Andrew Blevins, and Carson Rejzer, (six bass, 8-14); State University of New York at Plattsburgh – Mitchell Davis and Scott Harrington, (three bass, 7-6); and Virginia Tech – Caleb Brown and Ryan Slate, (four bass, 6-4).
Each school represented in a televised Regional Championship will have team shirts and boats provided by Ranger. The purse for each Regional Championship includes a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors for the winning club and $25,000 for the school they represent. Awards of $6,000 also extend through fifth place for the club and school to split evenly.
Anglers will take off from Blythe Landing located at 15901 NC Highway 73 in Huntersville, N.C., at 7 each morning. Weigh-ins will be held at Davidson College Village Green beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Qualified teams in the Northern Regional Championship include Chestnut Hill College; Hampden-Sydney College; North Carolina State University; Shepherd University; University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Virginia Tech; Fairmont State University; Longwood University; Penn State; State University of New York at Plattsburgh; Vermont Technical College; and West Point.
In conjunction with the Northern Regional Championship, the Reel Life Festival, which features the National Guard Warrior Challenge, is being held and begins at 4 p.m. for the remaining two days of competition at Davidson College Village Green.
FLW Outdoors announced the College Fishing trail in May 2008. The entire schedule, which is organized around the five Stren Series Divisions, can be found by visiting CollegeFishing.com along with rules, requirements and information on how to create a bass club.
Full-time students enrolled in four year colleges or universities are eligible to participate in the events. Schools can send two-person teams to each of the four qualifying events in their division, with each event limited to a maximum of 40 teams. Each team has the opportunity to win $10,000 for first and $2,000 through fifth place. Prize money is split evenly between the winning team’s club and the school they represent. The tournaments are free to enter, boats and drivers are provided and all collegiate teams receive a travel allowance. The top five teams in each qualifying event advance to one of five televised three-day National Guard FLW College Fishing Regional Championships.
The National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship is a three-day televised event hosting the top five teams from each regional, 25 total teams. Teams will be provided shirts and wrapped Ranger boats towed by Chevy trucks for this competition. The purse for the championship ranges from $25,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors for the winning club and $50,000 for the school they represent to $15,000 for fifth, split between the club and school.
The winning team will be declared the National Guard FLW Collegiate National Champion and will qualify for the Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP and Castrol in 2010. The winners will also receive use of a wrapped boat and Chevy truck for the Forrest Wood Cup.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.